Vatican Publishes Full Papal Schedule for Holy Week, Easter

Pope Francis’ calendar for Holy Week and Easter is just as full as in previous years despite a mild illness which has caused him to cancel meetings in the days leading up to the release of his liturgical calendar for March.

Pope Has Full Day of Appointments After Going to Hospital for Tests

The day after Pope Francis paid a brief visit to Rome’s Gemelli Isola Hospital for “diagnostic tests,” he had a full morning of audiences, including a meeting with bishops from Italy’s Emilia Romagna region making their “ad limina” visits to the Vatican.

Pope Francis Cancels Audiences Due to ‘Mild Flu’

By Elise Ann Allen ROME — (Crux) On Saturday morning the Vatican announced that Pope Francis, who suffers from various health maladies and had two hospital stays last year, canceled his scheduled audiences for the day due to a mild flu. In a Feb. 24 statement, the Vatican said that “due to a mild flu-like […]

Pope, in Letter to Jews in Israel, Condemns Antisemitism as a Sin

In a letter addressed to “my Jewish brothers and sisters in Israel,” Pope Francis expressed his heartbreak at the violence unleashed by the Hamas attack on Israel in October and he repeated the Catholic Church’s condemnation of all forms of antisemitism and anti-Judaism.

Bishop Rolando Álvarez Released, Exiled from Nicaragua After Over 500 Days of Detention

Bishop Rolando Álvarez of Matagalpa has been released from prison and sent into exile along with 18 imprisoned churchmen as the Nicaraguan government expelled its most prominent critic, whose presence behind bars bore witness to the Sandinista regime descent into totalitarianism, along with its unrelenting persecution of the Catholic Church.